It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

Maureen Anne Morgan

Description

This is my story as the love-child of an Australian soldier and an English nurse, living in war-torn London in the 1940s, before travelling to Australia on a boat, where her mother fell in love with a Welshman, married him and had five more children. The story reveals a passion for horses, which leads to an association with two “dirty old men” and running away from home. But instead of turning into a delinquent, I went to university and trained to be a high school teacher. Although an unfortunate love affair with a married man led to a car crash, an unwanted pregnancy, an eventual marriage and the birth of two sons.
Tragedy struck, with the loss of both boys. Continuing to work, saved my sanity, and after retirement, I continued teaching Line Dancing to seniors.
My long-time friend and later lover, supported me through difficult times, married me and we travelled the world.
Finally, I took my mother back to London, by plane this time, to appear on Cilla Black’s television show “Surprise Surprise”, where she was reunited with her twin brother, whom she hadn’t seen for fifty-four years.

Sujets

• Personal Memoirs
• Biography
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris AU
• Date de parution: 14 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669889298
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME









Maureen Anne Morgan



Copyright © 2022 by Maureen Anne Morgan.

Library of Congress Control Number:
2022911316
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-8931-1
Softcover
978-1-6698-8930-4
eBook
978-1-6698-8929-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.






Rev. date: 08/11/2022




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CONTENTS
Chapter 1 2008 – It’s Too Late When They Die
Chapter 2 1948 – Off to Australia
Chapter 3 1949 – New Baby, New Home, New School
Chapter 4 1952 – A Tragedy and My First Swimming Lesson
Chapter 5 1953 – Off to High School and the Start of Wanderlust
Chapter 6 1954 – Horses Lead Me Down the Wrong Path
Chapter 7 1955 – Family and a Helpful Counsellor
Chapter 8 1956 – In the Papers
Chapter 9 One Good Turn Deserves Another
Chapter 10 1956 – A New House and More Babies
Chapter 11 1957 – Staying at the Easter Show
Chapter 12 January 1959 – Dunlop’s Rubber Factory
Chapter 13 February 1959 – Off to University
Chapter 14 1960 – I Meet a Quiz Champion
Chapter 15 1960 – I Become a Night Nurse
Chapter 16 January 1961 – Sydney Teachers’ College
Chapter 17 1962 – The Year My Life Changed
Chapter 18 1962 – My First Teaching Post
Chapter 19 1962 – Ban the Bomb March
Chapter 20 Easter 1962 – My First Driving Lesson
Chapter 21 The Morning After
Chapter 22 Fateful Decision
Chapter 23 My Brush with the Law
Chapter 24 New Friends, New Experiences
Chapter 25 November 1962 – My Memorable Twenty-First Birthday
Chapter 26 April 1966 – Love and Marriage
Chapter 27 1967 – Birth of My First Baby
Chapter 28 1968 – New Baby, New Home
Chapter 29 1971 – Truth and Reconciliation
Chapter 30 1977 – Life in a Duplex
Chapter 31 1978 – My First Home
Chapter 32 Living in Avalon
Chapter 33 The BMX Project and a Chance Encounter
Chapter 34 1981 - My Trip to Europe
Chapter 35 My Backpacking Adventure Begins – Italy
Chapter 36 Backpacking in Paris
Chapter 37 Stranded in Bombay
Chapter 38 Life as a Single Mum
Chapter 39 1982 – Second Trip to Europe
Chapter 40 1984 – The Family Together Again
Chapter 41 1984 – The Birthday I Would Never Forget
Chapter 42 1985 – Not a Good Year
Chapter 43 1986 – Flight to Carroll
Chapter 44 1987 – Greg in Carroll
Chapter 45 1988 – A New Passion
Chapter 46 1990 – Chianti Becomes a Mother
Chapter 47 1991 – Greg in Trouble
Chapter 48 1993 – Indonesia
Chapter 49 1994 – Malaysia
Chapter 50 1995 – On Safari in Africa
Chapter 51 1997 – Farewell, Avalon; Hello, Mrs Morgan
Chapter 52 2002 – Surprise, Surprise
Chapter 53 2006 – Shad Arrives



CHAPTER 1
2008 – It’s Too Late When They Die
SLUMPED ON MY MOTHER’S bed, eyes brimming with tears, I gazed at the green velvet pouch in my hand. Inside was a gold ring and an Australian Commonwealth Military Forces badge, love tokens given to my mother by my father more than sixty-seven years ago. Wrapping my arms around myself, overwhelmed with grief and remorse, I started to sob uncontrollably as realisation dawned. My mother had kept these trinkets so that if ever I endeavoured to find my father, I would have proof that I was his daughter, but all through her lifetime, I hadn’t been interested. As a small child, I had been given a photograph of my father with his full name. At seven, I had been brought from London to Sydney, his home city, and had lived here ever since, without ever bothering to find him. I realised now that I had cocooned myself in dreams of a fantasy father and knew, deep in my heart, no mere mortal could compete with that.
Why hadn’t I had a real conversation with my mother about my birth? Now it was too late. As I grew older, I was always in the moment of living, never looking at the past. Therefore, I had scorned my younger sister’s interest in genealogy, ignored my doctor’s requests for information about family history of disease and even discounted my daughter-in-law’s suggestion ‘You really should write your story’.
How I regretted not asking questions, not taking steps to find out; now it was too late. That night, I wrote my mother’s eulogy, which announced to my unsuspecting siblings that she had had a previous love and I was, in fact, their half-sister.
So I too joined Ancestry.com and discovered that I came from a long line of strong, resolute women. Starting with my maternal great-grandmother, Elizabeth Emma Coombs, whose first three girls were born, baptised and buried before they reached their second birthday. Elizabeth persevered, having three more girls and two sons. The First World War claimed her husband, her younger son and her two brothers. Still, she battled on, helping her oldest daughter, Grace, my grandmother, look after her three-year-old daughter while my grandfather was at war. Finally, in the 1930s, Elizabeth took her two younger daughters, Charlotte and Annie, and emigrated to Australia.
Judging from her photograph, my grandmother Grace grew to be a beautiful young lady and a fur finisher by trade. From knowing her in later life, she was obviously cultured, loving reading, classical music, opera, theatre and ballroom dancing. She was neat and tidy, always putting everything in its place. In the day, she loved to cook and at night was always working on crochet or knitting and listening to music.
In 1912, Grace met and fell in love with Ralph Buckland Wood, a man older by eight years. One thing led to another, and on 5 January 1913, they were married in Lambeth, a suburb of London. Six months later, on 19 July 1913, Irene Edith Gertrude Wood (called Rene) was born.
In 1914, World War 1 began, and Ralph enlisted. Grace, with Rene, moved back to her parents. My paternal great-grandmother Sarah died in 1916. The following year, her son Ralph, my grandfather, was invalided out of the war. He and his wife moved in with his father. In 1918, the twins arrived, John Charles Stanley and Joan Grace Charlotte, my mother.
Four years later, on 23 April 1922, another boy was born, Ronald Stanley Ralph (called Bun). Irene never returned home to her real parents, so my mother grew up as the only girl with two boisterous brothers.
Joan proved to be a real tomboy. At fourteen, she was smoking tobacco rolled in newspaper and swigging rum with her brothers. So dismayed was my grandmother with her out-of-control daughter that she sent her, aged fifteen, to board at a convent. It was there that my mother learnt to care for orphaned children, which led her to train as a nurse at King’s College Hospital in London. When war began in 1939, my mother was transferred to Colchester Hospital as bombing casualties were expected in a port city with an army base nearby.
Her two brothers who had joined the navy were on different ships, so it was an anxious time for the family listening to shipping reports. Both Great-Grandfather and Grandfather stayed at home, but Grandmother became an air raid warden, donning her uniform and guiding people to public shelters.
In 1941, my mother met and fell in love with a patient, an Australian soldier, Reginald William James Johnston, a man ten years her senior. He loved horses, and his idea of a date was to come to London to see Buckingham Palace and visit the stables.
One thing led to another, and when the Battle of Britain was at its height, my mum discovered she was pregnant. Reg had already rejoined the war, so Mum couldn’t tell him the news. Being a nurse, she could possibly have found a way to terminate the pregnancy but decided to come home and tell her family.
Father was ready to show her the door (forgetting he had once been in a similar situation). Mother said,
‘Come home and I will look after the baby while you go to work’.
Brothers said, ‘Make the guy marry you now so you will be looked after by the Australian government’.
Brother Jack travelled to Colchester to tell Reg face to face but found he had already left for the Middle East. A senior officer told Jack that Reg already had a wife at home, and although he may be very fond of Joan, he was unable to marry.
Mum worked until the end of October, and I was born in Colchester Hospital on 18 November 1941.
As soon as I could understand, my mother told me that my father was an Australian soldier who had gone to fight in the war. As he didn’t come back, I assumed he had died fighting for his country. Many children in my class at school had lost their fathers, so I was not alone. My mother also gave me a photo of my father and his full name if ever I wanted to find any relatives. To my regret, I was never interested while my mother was alive. It was only after her death that I bothered to consult Ancestry.com.au and discovered that my father’s death certificate dated 1980 was marked childless. I had lived i